


Turnabout

by chaineddove



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-03
Updated: 2009-02-03
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaineddove/pseuds/chaineddove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoruichi does some stalking of her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turnabout

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lordlings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordlings/gifts).



Her keenly developed senses tell her that she is being watched.  She has been the object of several people’s scrutiny off and on, but this is the first time she feels it so strongly – someone is staring outright, without fear of repercussion despite the Second Division Captain’s famously short fuse.  For awhile, Soi Fong tells herself she is too dignified to turn and catch the offender in the act of ogling her, but eventually she cannot ignore the insistent prickle at the back of her neck.  She whips around, weapon at the ready, but all she sees is a jauntily raised black tail as a very familiar cat wanders nonchalantly away.  
   
This changes things.  
   
She is infinitely stronger now, and faster, but she understands very well that if Yoruichi-sama had not wanted to be seen, she would not have been.  However many years have passed, she can never quite release the belief that Yoruichi-sama is invincible, a level above anything anyone else might achieve.  If she has allowed Soi Fong to see her, it is certainly intentional – though what she means by it remains to be seen.  Soi Fong viciously clamps down on the tiny, incorrigible voice at the back of her mind that wonders, _what if…_  
   
Still, she has to work hard not to flush the next time she feels the eyes on the back of her neck.  She tries to be irritated that after all this time Yoruichi-sama still turns her into a blushing little girl, but she can’t summon the heat of true anger no matter how she tries.  “I know you’re watching me,” she says instead, her voice carefully cool and expressionless despite the fact that the tips of her ears are faintly pink.  
   
“Good for you,” comes the cat’s scratchy voice.  “Maybe you’re catching up.”  
   
Soi Fong turns, trying to ready a retort, but the cat is no longer there.  
 

***

   
This situation is bizarrely reminiscent of her childhood.  Once upon a time, she followed Yoruichi-sama everywhere, trying to stay out of sight, watching the graceful line of her back, wishing she was brave enough to come out of the shadows and join her.  Yoruichi-sama always knew, of course; Soi Fong has never had any illusions about that – but her idol never called her on it, so she watched silently, and dreamed.  
   
That was ages ago, half a lifetime.  Now she is the one being watched, though she somehow doubts Yoruichi-sama ever felt this strangely discomfited by it.  She has to repeatedly shush that tiny mental voice, which is getting progressively more difficult, as it is getting louder.  She cannot imagine _why_ this is happening – well, she can, but she tells her imagination severely that it is _wrong_ – and keeping her resolution of silence becomes nearly impossible after awhile.

Finally, she speaks to the cat again, saying, “You might as well come out and tell me what you want.  I do not intend to attack you, if that is what you’re afraid of.”  She tries to inject scorn into her voice to hide her discomfort.  
   
The cat laughs, clearly unfazed.  “Afraid?  You really think so?”  Soi Fong tries not to flush – of course she doesn’t think so.  The words are a pathetic attempt at self-defense.  “If you don’t know, I certainly don’t intend to tell you,” the cat continues.  “You’ve always been a quick learner; don’t disappoint me now.”  
   
The feeling of eyes on her back vanishes just like that, and Soi Fong is left to curiously contemplate the fact that apparently, she is not a disappointment _yet_.  
 

***

Even though she has done it countless times in the past, she firmly tells herself that she will _not_ launch herself into Yoruichi-sama’s arms again.  There is no guarantee that she will be caught – and there is still a lingering sense that even if she _is_ , she is not worthy of taking the risk.   
   
She is concentrating so hard on giving none of this away that she has become hyper-sensitized to everything around her.  She knows something has changed before Yoruichi-sama speaks again, this time in her own voice, smooth with just a touch of purr.  “You’re jumpy,” her former mentor says, and adds a low little laugh, which is really not playing fair as far as Soi Fong is concerned.  
   
“ _Someone_  has been stalking me,” Soi Fong replies, refusing to turn around, partially because she wants to keep her dignity intact, and partially because she is afraid the other woman will vanish like the wind if Soi Fong tries to engage her in proper conversation.  She feels like a child in the presence of a butterfly, pretending to ignore it while silently willing it not to fly away.  
   
“Turnabout is fair play,” Yoruichi-sama tells her.  “Once upon a time, you stalked _me_.”  
   
“Yes, but I-”  She cuts herself off, blushing furiously at what she was about to say – that she had not been doing it for _fun_ , unlike some people.  “I have work to do,” she covers.  
   
Yoruichi-sama ignores her.  “Have you ever thought that we might not be as different as you pretend?”  The voice is closer, and Soi Fong feels her heart speeding up.  
   
“We don’t have much in common anymore,” she forces herself to say.  
   
She feels someone right behind her, a radiating warmth, a whisper of a touch on her shoulder.  “Not more than we ever have, I guess,” Yoruichi-sama says flippantly, and is gone.  
 

***

   
She tortures herself thinking of the almost-touch, barely sleeping through the night, tossing and turning on her futon and feeling warm and unsettled.  The once-tiny voice has now taken up residence at the very forefront of her thoughts, and it is very difficult to control as it nearly shouts, _what if, what if, what if?_  
   
“Shut up,” Soi Fong grumbles to herself, and to hell with dignity.  “Shut _up_.”  
   
She is so occupied with being furious at herself that she doesn’t sense the shift in air currents that denotes someone at her window – until Yoruichi-sama’s voice says, “I’ve never known you to suffer from insomnia.”  Soi Fong is so shocked that she shoots out of bed before her mind can catch up and berate her – _she’ll go, don’t make any sudden movements_ – and she stops herself mid-step, falling back into something like a fighting stance and cursing her overprotective instincts.  
   
Somehow, against all logic, Yoruichi-sama is still sitting on the windowsill, her eyes glowing faintly golden in the darkness, like a cat’s.  “Excuse the intrusion,” she says lightly.  
   
Soi Fong stares at her, wide-eyed, barely making out the other woman’s features with the moon glowing behind her.  She knows the traitorous light is exposing her in all her startled glory and tries to pull herself together.  “I never watched you sleep,” she says accusingly.  
   
“No,” Yoruichi-sama agrees.  “You wouldn’t have dared.  I’m not watching you sleep, either.  You aren’t sleeping.”  She swings her legs into the room and steps silently across the floor.  “Don’t look so scared; it doesn’t suit you.”  
   
“I’m not _scared_ ,” Soi Fong growls.  
   
“Maybe not in the traditional sense.”  
   
This time, the touch is more tangible than the whisper she felt earlier, warm, slightly calloused hands on her bare arms.  Soi Fong doesn’t know what else to say, but the not-so-little voice in her mind is glad to provide some words: “Why are you..?”  
   
“Why did _you?_ ” Yoruichi-sama retorts.  
   
“But,” Soi Fong sputters, “you aren’t...”  
   
“Really?” Yoruichi-sama asks.  “Are you sure?  What if you’re wrong?”  
   
She sees herself reflected in Yoruichi-sama’s eyes, and she feels her common sense flee.  “I suppose you’ll have to prove it,” she says, barely recognizing the shaky whisper as her voice, “before I believe you.”  
   
“I guess that’s fair,” Yoruichi-sama agrees.  “I probably even deserve it.  In that case, you have no one to blame but yourself if I happen to shatter your illusions.”  
   
She doesn’t launch herself into Yoruichi-sama’s arms so much as she is pulled there, and she finds herself not only caught but held fast, in a grip she is not entirely sure she could escape even if she tried.  “Let’s try this again,” Yoruichi-sama says, so close that her breath is a warm breeze on Soi Fong’s face.  She lets her eyes close, unable to bear the intensity of the challenge in Yoruichi-sama’s gaze.  She doesn’t know what she expects – maybe another insubstantial whisper – but what she gets is a solid, warm pressure against her lips.  She stands there, frozen in the moment, and before she can bring her sluggish senses to react, it is gone.  “Interesting,” Yoruichi-sama says; then, “I thought you’d help.”  
   
Soi Fong’s eyes snap open, and she cannot quite read the look on Yoruichi-sama’s face, but she thinks she detects uncertainty in her voice.  She has never seen Yoruichi-sama look this way, suddenly accessible and almost human.  That look is enough to shake her to the core, and give her enough strength for a faint smile.  “I was still catching up,” she says; with daring she wasn’t aware of possessing, she winds her fingers into the hair at the nape of Yoruichi-sama’s neck and pulls her back down. 


End file.
